Do you have more dental issues than your peers? Do your autistic children have more dental issues? Do cleanings hurt you more than fillings?

Do you find there are certain medical staff that are better at your autism disclosure than others (nurses better than doctors, blood test/ lab workers better than nurses, specialists better?) ect?

Do you have a code word or phrase that helps you the most during emergency appointments?

How do you manage sensory issues at the doctors?

Does the anesthetic or freezing cause more pain after than not having it for fillings that do not involve the roots? Do you have unusual reactions to the freezing agents?

Do you find you act more or less autistic at the Dentists? Do you prefer to disclose or leave out your diagnosis at the Dentists? Is there any trick that helps you get through the appointments?

Do you go for the usual tests or do you wait them out longer because the side effects of said tests usually cause you more problems than the test themselves? ( e.g. colonoscopy, mammogram, gastroscopy.)

Do you have unusual side effects to anesthetics, painkillers or other medications?

Does naturopathy generally accept you and address your issues better than allopathy?

Does mental health support normally apply to you or do you find you defy the odds of symptomatic depression, anxiety etc. and need alternatives? What would you suggest to a doctor if you could in this regard?

When I posted about my kidney infection saga last summer, a lot of you shared similar stories about difficulties with getting the right treatment for an illness. Often the stories revolved around how hard it is to get proper diagnosis and treatment when your body and brain are atypical in ways that a lot of doctors are not used to seeing. There were a few themes from that post that stayed with me:

We often have atypical symptoms and atypical reactions to medications

We often have difficulty describing our pain, symptoms or illness in a way that doctors understand

Many of us have had bad experiences with the medical system because of communication barriers or the way we experience our bodies

Sensory sensitivities, communication barriers and bad past experiences can cause us to avoid seeking out medical care when we need it

In an ideal world, health care providers would receive training in making care more accessible to autistic adults, and maybe that will be the case in the future. Until then, those of us who feel comfortable doing so have some self-advocacy options:

Ask our health care providers for the accommodations that we need to make care more effective. This is a hard one because there is an inherent power differential in the doctor-patient relationship. Sharing general information articles like today’s AWN post and the information for providers at the AASPIRE website can be a good way to start a conversation.

Share information about doctors who are autistic-patient-friendly. AWN is creating a crowdsourced directory for women’s healthcare providers which is a great way of making information available to a larger number of people. Within the autistic community, there is also the opportunity for informal sharing among people who live in the same city or community.

Take advantage of resources like a personalized AASPIRE report to share our specific needs with doctors we see regularly. The AASPIRE reports are very detailed and probably beyond the scope of a short one-time visit to a new doctor, but they could play an important role in an ongoing doctor-patient relationship.

Enlist allies. Sometimes medical appointments are more successful when we bring along an ally who can act as our cognitive interpreter or support person. This is especially true when an illness is interfering with our communication or decision-making abilities.

What People Are Reading

Yesterday I ventured way way way outside my comfort zone to record an interview on Autism Spectrum Radio. The host, Rob Haupt, asked some great questions and was easy to talk to. You can listen to our conversation here. Rob does a short intro and then the rest of show (about 35 minutes) is our conversation.

My friends Ibby Grace And Amy Sequenzia are editing an anthology titled “Typed Words, Loud Voices”, a collection of works by people who type to talk always or sometimes. They’re looking for essays, poems, stories or whatever form of expression you’d like to share your message in.

As some of you noticed yesterday, I’ve updated the blog theme to add a little color. Maybe down the road I’ll experiment with some of the new features (like this one that allows short “aside” posts). It’ll take some getting used to, I know.

And yes the remodeling is an indication of just how bored I am with all the not writing I’m doing.

Triathlon training is chugging along nicely – 3 weeks to go and I feel great, if a bit worn out. The garden is producing lots of cucumbers and tomatoes, a few eggplants and peppers. And for some reason I’m the only person on earth who can’t grown squash? With the exception of one green squash a couple of weeks ago, all I’m getting are tiny little squash that turn yellow and wither.

Besides a renewed obsession with The Sims, that’s about all that’s new around these parts.